1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laminated ceramic electronic component, a manufacturing method therefor, a serial taping electronic component, a manufacturing method therefor, and a direction identification method for a laminated ceramic electronic component.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one of typical laminated ceramic electronic components, there is a laminated ceramic capacitor. In addition, to adopt a substantially quadrangular prism structure where a thickness (a dimension in a lamination direction) T and a width W are caused to be approximately equal to each other is effective for dealing with downsizing and capacity enlargement at the same time in such a laminated ceramic capacitor.
In addition, as the laminated ceramic capacitor, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 11, a substantially chip-shaped three-terminal type laminated ceramic capacitor has been known that has a structure in which a pair of end portion-side outer electrodes (for example, signal terminal electrodes) 102a and 102b and a substantially belt-like side surface outer electrode (for example, a ground terminal electrode) 103 circling around a capacitor main body (ceramic element body) 101 are included in the outer surface of the ceramic element body 101 (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-57311).
Incidentally, when the laminated ceramic capacitor is mounted on a mounting target such as a circuit substrate, in some cases it is preferable that the laminated ceramic capacitor is mounted with adjusting the direction of an internal electrode (for example, whether the direction of the main surface of the internal electrode is approximately vertical or parallel to a mounting surface) or the direction of the internal electrode in a mounted state is recognizable.
However, when the substantially quadrangular prism structure is adopted, it becomes difficult to identify the direction of the internal electrode by observing the shape thereof from the outside. In addition, in the same way, in the case of the above-mentioned three-terminal type laminated ceramic capacitor in FIG. 11, which includes the substantially belt-like side surface outer electrode circling around, it is also difficult to identify the direction of the internal electrode by observation from the outside.
Therefore, a technique has been developed that does not identify the direction of an internal electrode by observation from the outside but adjusts the direction of a laminated ceramic capacitor by a magnetic force (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-217136 or Japanese Patent No. 3430854).
However, the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-217136 or Japanese Patent No. 3430854 is based on the assumption of being used in a laminated ceramic capacitor having a typical 2-terminal structure, and when the technique is applied to the laminated ceramic capacitor including the substantially belt-like side surface outer electrode 103 circling around the side surface of the ceramic element body 101, as illustrated in FIG. 11, it appears to be a reality that it is difficult to adjust the direction of a laminated ceramic capacitor with accuracy.
In other words, as described in paragraphs [0008] to [0010] in Japanese Patent No. 3430854, directional alignment due to a magnetic force is performed due to a difference in a magnetic flux density when magnetic force lines generated by a magnet pass through an internal electrode including a magnetic substance (Ni or the like). However, in the case of the laminated ceramic capacitor including the substantially belt-like side surface outer electrode circling around the side surface of the ceramic element body, since usually the plating of Ni is performed on a side surface outer electrode, the magnetic substance turns out to circle around the side surface of the ceramic element body. Therefore, a difference in a magnetic flux density, due to the direction of the internal electrode, becomes small, and the accuracy of the directional alignment due to the magnetic force turns out to be reduced.